Fly With Me
by JBPones
Summary: In the year 3000, there's a game show watched around the world. Billions of viewers, 20 contestants, 1 winner. Alex/Mitchie What are YOU playing for?
1. Preview

AN: This is just a preview for my new story. AU WOWP and Camp Rock crossover Alex/Mitchie.

Set in the year 3000 (heeheehee)

P.S. If someone has an accent, I'll write their conversation parts differently, using spelling errors. Just sound it out and that'll be how it's suppose to sound. (And the guys from Camp Rock never went to Camp Rock. The only characters that know each other are Alex and Justin.) And I had to make up names for Nate, Jason, and I didn't know if Barry or Sander had last names so I just made some up. And Peggy's name I got off Wikipedia.

A lot of the tech stuff comes from Surviving Antartica. Nice little book, check it out.

The whole story is in Alex's POV

If something is double spaced, I did that to show that in the actual story more things happen. It's just cut up so this preview is short and simple. **Bold **is a big, scary dramatic voice. (heeheehee)

----

**In the Year 3000, there's a game show watched around the world.**

* *

"You guys suck so much! I can't believe you made it on to the show. This is so not fair. Stupid age limit." Max crossed his arms and slouched down on the family couch.

"I can't believe my babies are going away to be on some stupid life-risking game show. And just for _money_." Our mother shook her head and pulled us into another group hug.

"Mom, we _need _that money." Justin whispered as she released us.

"Max's surgery. We all know what'll happen if he doesn't get it within the next year." I added, a silence falling over us.

"_Your_ lives are important, too." She crossed her arms and gave us a sad smile. "But I guess I can't stop you. I believe in you kids. I've always had a feeling you'd go on to do great things. And who knows, if you stay on long enough, you might even get famous. You can win. You _can _win."

I looked over at Justin and sighed.

"We have to."

* *

**Billions of viewers, twenty contestants, one winner.**

* *

"We've got lots of variety this year! Teens from America, Canada, England, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and Spain!"

"I think it's time to meet our contestants!"

"You're one of the siblings aren't you?" A girl asked, holding out her hand. "I'm Caitlyn Gellar."

"Since we're doing introductions, I'm Tess Tyler." A blond girl, who was sitting on the single bed, said. She waited, her eyebrows raised as if we should know who she was. "...daughter of TJ Tyler?"

"Oh, right. I thought that was you. It must suck that your mom hasn't won any awards in two decades. You must Hannah Montanna for taking her spotlight." A tall girl who had taken the bed under Mitchie Torres' said.

"And you are?" Tess asked, attitude flowing off her.

"Peggy Warburton." She replied, smiling.

"I'm Ella Pador!" A girl standing in the doorway exclaimed, smiling and waving at us.

"What about you?" Tess questioned to the girl on the other top bunk.

"Oh, I'm Mitchie Torres." She shrugged.

My eyes were glued to her.

She was beautiful.

"Ladies, let's go! You're blocking the hall." A guy with nice hair and bad mood exclaimed.

"That's Shane Gray." Mitchie whispered.

* *

**Who will win?**

* *

I barely had enough strength to keep my sweaty hands grasped around the corner of the platform. I couldn't hear the screams from the live audience, I only heard the roaring wind that constantly swung my body around in the air. The audience and ground were a blur of colors and more then once I couldn't tell which way was up and which was down. My whole body hurt, sweat rolled down my face, but I gritted my teeth and used all of the strength I could to try and pull myself back up.

* *

**And what are they willing to do for it?**

* *

"Yeah, secret challenges. You've never heard of them? Last season contestants had to, like, backstab friends, dump boyfriends, or do really mean stuff on purpose. It's for the viewers delight, that's all." Justin informed me.

* *

**A game show, ready to show people that money **_**is**_** everything.**

* *

She sighed, looking at me and biting her bottom lip as she thought it over.

"Maybe you were just afraid, knowing you were miles away...from the place you needed to be...and that's right here with me." She whispered, even though we were alone in the dark room.

Our lips touched. Softly, then harder. Our desire no longer needing to hide.

* *

**What are **_**you **_**playing for?**

* *

"Mitchie!" I screamed, my voice hoarse as the wind roared and blew my hair around my face. Tears streamed down my face and I tried to keep it together. "Mitchie, I love you!"

* *

**Fly With Me**

* *

...coming to a computer screen near you.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Reminder! If someone has an accent, I'll write their conversation parts differently and use spelling errors. Just sound it out and that'll be how it's suppose to sound. (And the guys from Camp Rock never went to Camp Rock. The only characters that know each other are Alex and Justin.) And I had to make up names for Nate, Jason, and I didn't know if Barry or Sander had last names so I just made some up. And Peggy's name I got off Wikipedia.

Alex's POV

**Fly With Me**

----

I sat with my back against the brick wall building that was the GSS (Game Show Studio) for our local region. Ever since the third Great Depression happened, GSS buildings have been showing up all over the world, in every major city. And if this one hadn't happened to be practically in our backyard, me and my brother Justin would never have been able to get to one. Thank God for New York City.

A door opened a little farther down the wall and an overweight man with stains all over his shirt stepped out.

"Youz two da Russo siblings?" He questioned, pointing to us even though we were the only two in the alley.

"That's us." Justin answered, standing up and pushing his hair out of eyes. I stood up, suddenly proud that I'd convinced him to stop using astro-gel in his hair and let it stay in his eyes.

"Follow me." He jerked his chin towards the door and stepped back inside. We walked quickly to the door and stepped in, Justin shutting it behind us. "Have you twoz ever done any work with da GSS corporation before?"

"No, sir." Justin answered as the man led us into what seemed to be a waiting room. Several other people sat on old couches and chairs around the badly painted room, all filling out papers and tapping their pens on their chins as they thought up lies that would sound impressive for their application.

"Den youz gotta fill out deez two forms and den wait for ya turn to be interviewed by our manager. If da manager likes ya, den he'll send ya on to da East Coast semi-finals. From der you'll go through a bunch a judges and tests and such until ya reach the finals and den da National semi-finals. Ya catching the routine? It's simple, explains it all on da form. So go take ya a seat and start signing. Ya might be here a while." The man reached over a counter and pulled out two clipboards with attached pens. He handed them to us and walked out of the room.

I followed Justin over to two seats in the corner and sat down on chair that had a short leg on the front right-hand corner.

"He was right." Justin muttered, keeping his voice down as he glanced through the pages. "This'll take us at least an hour. It's all your personal information, and then a bunch of release form type legal stuff."

"I'll let you handle the legal stuff." I murmured, sighing and clicking the pen. I smiled to myself as I wrote my name, the first page was going to be easy. I wrote in my date of birth, my gender, and race before I spoke again.

"Why do they wanna know my height, weight, and which hand I write with?" I questioned Justin, who I noticed was already half way down the page.

"Saftey issues, I guess." He shrugged. "Maybe if you get picked, they need to know what sizes to make your hover-jackets and things like that."

"Oh...that makes sense, I guess." I bit my bottom lip and continued on with filling out my personal information. I finally got the first page down after another twenty questions. I lost my smile, however, as I flipped the page.

One down, sixty-nine to go.

****

"You guys suck so much! I can't believe you made it on to the show. This is so not fair. Stupid age limit." Max, the youngest Russo, crossed his arms and slouched down on the family couch. Myself and Justin simply smirked, our luggage in our arms.

"Come on, Maxie, it'll be fine. Me and you get to the run the shop alone. Just think of all the quality time we'll have together!" Jerry, our father, clapped his hand on Max's shoulder and smiled.

"I can't believe my babies are going away to be on some stupid life-risking game show. And just for _money_." Our mother shook her head and pulled us into another group hug.

"Mom, we _need _that money." Justin whispered as she released us. "If not we'll have to sell the shop, and a bunch of other stuff, just so we can pay for Alex and Max to go to school. And for me to go to college. You know I can't go if we don't win this. I'm stuck here in job-less city."

"And Max's surgery. We all know what'll happen if he doesn't get it within the next year." I added, a silence falling over us.

"_Your_ lives are important, too." She crossed her arms and gave us a sad smile. "But I guess I can't stop you. I believe in you kids. I've always had a feeling you'd go on to do great things. And who knows, if you stay on long enough, you might even get famous."

"Don't get your hopes up too high, Mom." I shrugged. "We could be first to go."

"We'll have none of that attitude." She placed a hand on both of our shoulders. "You can win. You _can _win."

I looked over at Justin and sighed.

"We have to."

****

I haven't seen civilization in days. I've been locked away in this freakin' hospital looking building, having doctors and nurses constantly stab me with needles and hook me up to machines. I haven't slept since they knocked me out with this fruity smelling stuff and stuffed me in a liquid-filled tube to hook me up with some high-tech gadget stuff.

I'm talking eye cams, lip chips, and even those little speakers they glue into our right ears. I feel like a robot, and I'm starting to _really _feel like a robot now that I'm seeing them _everywhere_.

I can't wait to just get out there and get this thing over with.

****

The lights were turned up to super high, I couldn't see anything other than freakin light. The audience in front of us was a dark mass of nothing. I felt like we were standing on a platform in the middle of space, and not the GSS's television channel's talk show stage.

"Let's go over the rules one last time before we meet the contestants and put them into the GSS shuttle and send them off to the Moon!" The energetic talk show host giggled and playfully slapped her knee, staring into the dark mass that clapped with a thunder-like roar.

"Okay, Holly, I guess I'll start explaining the rules." The co-host, who was also all oober-happy-smiles, chuckled. "These twenty contestants will be shot off to the Moon, where our GSS HQ will be their home for the next few months. They'll be put into crazy situations, which might be working together to solve a puzzle one day or stabbing each other in the back the next!"

"That's exactly right, Bob." Holly giggled, clapping her hands together and smiling brightly. "But the fun's not over there! Also, the teen with the lowest number of points at the end of each week will be kicked off and sent back to Earth."

"That's _if _they make it to the end of each week." Bob chuckled and slapped his knee.

"Right you are, Bob." Holly nodded and tilted her head to the side. "And they'll also have to vote off friends and enemies themselves on our vote-tastic specials, which occur randomly every month."

"And for those of you watching at home, if you wanna join in on the action and get tickets for yourself or your family to watch a challenge play out live on the Moon, you can go to our website _now_! Hurry and get your seats before we sell out!" Bob laughed. Holly placed her hand on her ear, so she could hear her ear-phone over the crowd.

"And I've just been told that we have _just _sold out of seats, folks!" Holly giggled and smiled at the audience.

"I think it's time to meet our contestants!" Bob stood from his seat and started the loud clapping that followed. Holly also stood from her comfortable chair as we were directed out onto the stage.

"Give it up everybody!" Holly shouted over the noise, turning her head from the audience to us every other second.

All twenty of us sat down on the two rows of chairs that were placed in the middle of the stage. The ten chairs in the back were taller, so everyone could see us.

I tried to calm down, I needed to get used to the idea of a giant camera full of millions of eyes watching me.

"Let's start at the top." Bob chuckled as the wall behind us booted up into a giant TV screen. A giant picture of the girl all the way to the right of my row showed up.

A large man's voice, one that might host football games, boomed through the room.

"Player number one. Caitlyn Gellar. Hometown: Toronto, Canada. Age: 17. Previous experiences with GSS include two wins at the American Regional Championship for teen producers and the Canadian GSS Music League producer of the year title."

The screen flashed and the boy sitting next to her smiled when his picture showed up.

"Player number two. Shane Gray. Hometown: San Diego, California. Age: 18. Previous experiences with GSS include five wins at the American National Championship for teen singers, one win at the World Championship for teen singers."

I sighed, this was going to be a long day.

"Player number three. Tess Tyler. Hometown: Seattle, Washington. Age: 15. Previous experiences with GSS include three wins at the American Regional Championship for teen singers."

"Player number four. Nate Jonas. Hometown: Dallas, Texas. Age: 16. Previous experiences with GSS include ten wins at the American Regional Championship for teen song writers, four wins at the World Championship for teen song writers, and one win at the American Regional Championship for teen guitarists."

"Player number five. Peggy Warburton. Hometown: London, England. Age: 17. Previous experiences with GSS include seven wins at the European Championships for karate black belt teens."

"Player number six. Mitchie Torres. Hometown: Los Angeles, California. Age: 16. Previous experiences with GSS include six wins at the American Regional Championship for teen singers, one win at the World Championship for teen song writers, and five wins at the World Championship for teen singers."

My eyes were glued to the screen. When her picture switched to some boy's, I turned my gaze down to the row to see her.

She was beautiful.

I couldn't think straight when I looked at her, and an almost angelic glow fell on her. It faded, and I blushed, realizing that one: it was just the spotlight, and two: she noticed I was staring.

More like drooling.

I turned my attention back to the screen.

"Player number seven. Jason Green. Hometown: Miami, Florida. Age: 19. Previous experiences with GSS include ten wins at the World Championship for teen guitarists."

"Player number eight. Ella Pador. Hometown: Seattle, Washington. Age: 14. Previous experiences with GSS include ten wins at the World Championship for teen mathletes, ten wins at the World Championship for teen scientists, and nine wins at the World Championship for teen engineers."

I sucked in a deep breath as the spotlight hit me. I could feel the millions of eyes on me.

"Player number nine. Alex Russo. Hometown: New York City, New York. Age: 16. No previous experiences with GSS."

I blushed, and I blushed hard. I didn't no this was a show and tell type of thing. Thankfully, the light left me and went to Justin.

"Player number ten. Justin Russo. Hometown: New York City, New York. Age: 18. No previous experiences with GSS."

I glanced at Justin just as he smiled at the crowd and shrugged, following with a wave. I was surprised to see my modest older brother being this brave with a crowd. As the light left us and started on the next row, I leaned over to him and whispered. We giggled but were silenced by the glare we got from Holly and Bob, the wonderful hosts.

The entire bottom row was filled with other teens from around the world. All of which have had previous experiences with GSS. Looks like me and Justin are _already _the outcasts. And the game hasn't even started.

"All right!" Holly giggled.

"How about that?" Bob chuckled.

I was starting to see the pattern here.

"We've got lots of variety this year! Teens from America, Canada, England, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and Spain!" Holly giggled, doing a little dance movement in her chair.

"That's right, Holly." Bob smiled into the audience. "And as you may have noticed, we have our very first siblings!"

The spotlight returned on us. We smiled the best we could, giving short waves.

"Justin and Alex Russo, both of which have never done anything with GSS before." Holly winked at the camera, a surgically placed smile on her face.

I forced myself to keep the smile on my face as they talked. I was right, this was going to be a long day.

****

It was night outside when we walked out of talk show hell.

"Okay guys, just head on to the ship. You're flight should start within the hour. Go get comfortable and find your room. Your luggage will be there. Five per room. Girls on the right, boys on the left. Got it?" Our _babysitter _announced, looking even more bored then we did. "Any questions?"

"When can we eat?" Someone with a thick accent asked. I tried to place it, but I couldn't. I was never good at geography.

"On the ship you'll have a huge meal." The babysitter replied, heaving a sigh. "Hurry up, guys. We're running late."

****

"Seriously? We get to sleep in these?" I asked, a smile on my face as I walked into the first girls' room. I was first in, so I got to choose from two bunk beds or a normal bed. I decided to go with a top bunk, I'd always wanted to sleep on one.

I hopped up the ladder and sat down, looking out the small, circular window as four more girls walked into the room.

"You're one of the siblings aren't you?" A girl with a giant number one on her GSS shirt asked, holding out her hand. "I'm Caitlyn Gellar."

I recognized her as the Canadian teen producer.

"I'm Alex Russo. And yes, I'm the better half of that deal." I shook her hand and smiled. Not because I'm making friends, but because I saw who was taking the other top bunk. The Mitchie Torres girl.

"Since we're doing introductions, I'm Tess Tyler." A blond girl, who was sitting on the single bed, said. She waited, her eyebrows raised as if we should know who she was. "...daughter of TJ Tyler?"

"Oh, right. I thought that was you. It must suck that your mom hasn't won any awards in two decades. You must hate Hannah Montanna for taking her spotlight." A tall girl who had taken the bed under Mitchie Torres' said.

"And you are?" Tess asked, attitude flowing off her.

"Peggy Warburton." She replied, smiling.

"I'm Ella Pador!" A girl standing in the doorway exclaimed, smiling and waving at us. "I'm staying in the next room, but I wanted to say hi."

I couldn't help but notice she seemed a little on the airhead side. But wasn't she the super genius one?

"What about you?" Tess turned her attention to Mitchie Torres, who looked surprised we noticed her.

"Oh, I'm Mitchie Torres." She shrugged.

"I love your work." Peggy said, glancing up, even though they couldn't see each other.

"Really? You've heard of me?" She smiled shyly, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Totally. Well, my mother wrote one of the songs you sang to win the World Championship a few years ago." She explained.

"That's so cool that you guys are all singers and musically skilled." Ella giggled. "I'm just good with books and computers."

"Not all of us have GSS titles." Tess said, lowering her voice but staring directly at me.

"It's kind of weird. You and your brother both not having GSS titles? Why would they pick you?" Caitlyn wondered out loud.

"I dunno." I shrugged, playing it off with a bored expression. "Lucky, I guess."

"_Very _lucky." Tess muttered, narrowing her gaze.

"What do you think they did? Bribe the GSS president?" Peggy laughed at Tess' expression.

"I'd like to see that." I sighed.

"Huh?" Ella tilted her head to the side as Caitlyn sat down on the bed under mine.

"My family's kind of on the...not rich side." I shrugged. "Fact is...we need this money."

"We all _need_ the money." Tess rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure my family could use it more." I replied.

"Wanna bet?" Tess tilted her head and glared at me.

"Guys, come on. You're acting like children. We're about to be famous, okay? Not the famous we are right now, but the actual super star famous. Up there with movie, television, and internet stars. We can't have bad images." Peggy smiled.

I frowned.

Fame and money aren't the same.

****

I looked out the window as all twenty of us walked to dinner, the first _meal_ I'll have had since yesterday morning. Sure, I _ate_, but snack tables filled with doughnuts, chips, and crackers don't count.

I stopped walking, my eyes glued on the dark space outside. I smiled, realizing I hadn't even felt our lift off. I stared out the window as thousands of stars twinkled.

_Oof!_

My butt hit the ground seconds after my legs flew out from under me. I sat on the floor, and shook my head, trying to find who's hard head hit me.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

I looked behind me to see Mitchie Torres standing up and dusting off her jeans. She offered me a hand and I took it, loving the feel of her soft hands holding on to mine.

"I'm fine." I shrugged. "It's my fault. I got caught up with the view."

"No, it's all my fault. I wasn't paying attention." She smiled, glancing out the window. She did a double take on it and walked closer, her smile spreading. "Wow. This is so beautiful."

"I know." I sighed, my eyes on her and not the window. She glanced back at me and caught that little detail, blushing. I wasn't sure if she thought I meant her or the stars, but I didn't care.

"Ladies, let's go! You're blocking the hall." A guy with nice hair and a bad mood exclaimed, crossing his arms as we turned away from him and started walking down the hall.

"What part of the world should I blame for _that_ jerk?" I whisper-asked Mitchie. She giggled and glanced over her shoulder.

"That's Shane Gray, from _America_. You've never heard of him before? He's on the cover of all those girl magazines. He's the obvious choice for the fan vote." She whispered back as we walked into the cafeteria-looking room. It was pretty much a buffet in space.

"Fan vote?" I questioned as we picked up plates and started scooping up different food items and plopping them onto our plates.

"Once a month at random GSS'll have a vote-tastic thing. It's where we vote each other off the show. But one or two of those times the fans'll be the ones voting. Whoever gets the least amount of votes gets kicked off like normal, but whoever gets the highest amount of votes gets special stuff. Last year the guy who got the most votes got a Free Pass. It's like a get-out-of-jail-free card. He used it the next week to keep himself from getting kicked off and then he ended up being the guy who won." She explained.

"That's not fair. We should _all _be nobodies like me. That way it's not just pick-the-famous-guy." I sighed, looking for a place to sit.

"I know, but rules are rules." She shrugged, also looking for some place to sit.

Justin started waving his hand in the air to get my attention and I smiled.

"Do you wanna sit with us?" I asked Mitchie, starting to walk towards Justin.

"Um...sure, I guess. Is it okay with your brother?" She asked, getting shy again.

"Yeah, he's cool. Well...that depends on your version of what cool means." I smiled. When she smiled too, I felt a solid-like hope rise in me. It filled up a hole I hadn't even known was there.

----

AN: I'm loving this. I've been wanting to write something set in the future for a long time and I finally got around to doing it. :]


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Woooohooooo! We're going to the Moon!!

----

"So...who wants to spill their deep, dark secrets first?" Tess Tyler smirked, the other nine girls, including myself, giggled in response. We were all packed into the room that I was staying in, our first and only night on the ship. It was a free day to get to know each other, and so far I was doing pretty crappy at remembering their names.

But, anyways, I wasn't giggling because I thought Tess was a comic genius, I was giggling because Mitchie Torres _is_. She was sitting next to me on my bed, high above the others, except for Caitlyn and Ella who both sat on the other top bunk.

"I wonder if Tess' attitude comes with fries." Mitchie whispered, our backs leaning against the wall as we watched Peggy tell a story.

"You probably have to pay extra." I whispered back, glad we had gotten so close in such a short amount of time. "Plus tax."

Mitchie giggled quietly, biting her bottom lip and looking at her hands.

I couldn't help but want more with her. She was so interesting, not to mention funny and cute. But I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. My luck has proven to be suckish, so why should it change now?

I was almost sad when we landed on the Moon the next morning, but excited and thrilled at the same time. Our first challenge was going to start within the hour. We only had time to go claim our rooms and drop off our stuff before we got stuffed into five little hovercars and zoomed to the stadium.

When I saw its size, I swallowed hard. This might not be as fun as I thought it would be.

****

I was covered in green colored armor. Arm, elbow, leg, knee, neck, shoulder, chest, back, every kind of protective thing you can think of. Funny thing is, I could harldy feel any of it. Nice, soft material on the inside, but hard, bumpy stuff on the outside. Even the green helmet with a built in camera and black visor that completely hid my face felt light as a feather.

I took a few steps, trying to get used to how the squishy shoes and armor felt.

"And..." The backstage crew member guy held up his hand. He was standing by the exit, all twenty of us in a line, ready to get out there. "...go!"

We jogged out the door and into an elevator type thing. We went up a few seconds and then stopped. A few lights blinked and the doors opened. I felt the air in the elevator thing rush out, a moment of weightless-ness setting in.

Then the shoes' built in magnets booted up and I was on the ground again.

"Step out and go to your right." The speakers in our ears informed us. We did as it said and next thing I knew we where out on a platform in front of thousands of people.

It reminded me of a football stadium, and the fact that they all cheered for us made everything seem twice as unreal. I smiled under my helmet, glad they couldn't see my face. I looked up and finally understood why none of the audience members had on space suits.

We were in a giant dome.

"Remember, stand up tall, don't move. Act like you know what you're doing." The voice said, and only then did I realize it was our _babysitter_. "Please, don't embarrass yourselves. I'll tell you when the camera starts rolling."

I looked over at Justin. He was also in a green suit. Are we on teams?

"I haz questions." Someone said, their lip chip picking up their voice in their helmet.

"Yes?" Babysitter girl asked.

"Why haz others haz same color az me?" One of the not-American kids asked. I couldn't tell exactly who.

"Teams, people, you're all on teams of two. One boy, one girl. Stand next to them." Babysitter girl answered, her tone sounding bored.

I stepped closer to Justin, glad we have the advantage. Me and Justin can use our own little sign language to talk to each other. We picked that up in detention.

"Okay, the camera is rolling now. I'm putting you on private channels. If you wanna talk to someone, just use the signals we went over to select their name on your visor-screen. Good luck." The voice went away before she finished talking. All I could hear was the roar of the crowd.

I sighed, and turned on my visor-screen by blinking three times fast. A list of names, along with their picture, popped up before my eyes. I rolled through the list and found Justin, number ten.

"Justin?" I asked, wishing I didn't sound like an idiot.

"Hey, Alex." He sighed. "So do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Nope, I was hoping you would." I replied. "Hey, how come all these people are already here. Did they leave before us to get here early or something?"

"Commercial flights. They're faster and hold less people. This audience is filled with people from around the world." He explained.

"This looks...interesting." I sighed.

"Woah!" He laughed.

"What?" I questioned, turning off the visor-screen and looking at his green figure. He was looking at the audience, so I tried to follow his line of sight. "They have Justin and Alex signs!"

"Where?" I asked, a smile spreading across my face. Famous already? This was nice.

"Over there! It says Russo rocks...and there's another..._sibling _power...and there's another...Alex is so hot...hey, this one says marry me Justin." He laughed.

"Clearly they haven't seen that much of you yet." I laughed, making him nudge me with his elbow.

He started to reply but the host of GSS was zooming into view, his jetpack on high.

"Hello!" His voice boomed and the audience roared in cheers. "And welcome to the first challenge of the most popular GSS show on television! _What Are You Playing For_?!"

I sighed, the crowd loving his joyful attitude.

"If you're just joining us, we're about to send our twenty contestants, who have been placed into groups of two, out onto the obstacle track!" He announced.

"Obstacle track? Huh, I wonder why they're starting with that." Justin muttered.

"Contestants, take your positions!" He ordered, flying up higher.

We walked forward and I saw it now. The huge stairs, slides, ropes, tires, poles, everything. To everyone in the crowd it looked like fun, to me, though, it looked like pain in bright colors.

----

AN: Short, yes, but the action is in a chapter to itself. XD


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Challenge number one! By the way, I spent a lot of time doing research on different countries' popular names and stuff. I wanted to get these other contestants in the story, so be ready to meet them. Pablo (Spain), Victoria (Mexico), Liam (Canada), Aya (Japan), Sophie (Australia), and Ivan (Russia) are the new names, but you might recognize Sander, Barry, Lola, and Andy. (And for those who can't remember, Andy is the drummer boy who couldn't dance)

----

"Holy crap." I muttered, looking down at the starting line in front my feet. I was beyond nervous, but a little excited at the same time. Sweat already covered my forehead and my heart raced in my chest.

"You ready, Alex?" Justin's voice was too calm. I shook my head inside my helmet, looking around at the thousands of crowd members. How could I ever be ready for this?

"Nope, but I never will be. Let's just stay focused on what we have to do...for Max." I answered quietly, looking to my left as a pink suit walked up. It was Tess Tyler, I knew without looking at the number printed on her back. She just oozed attitude.

I looked down the line, seeing number six and smiling. Mitchie noticed me looking and waved, her hand a giant blue blur. I waved back, smiling in my suit, wondering if she was as nervouc as I was. I mean, I've never been this nervous before. I've given oral reports in front of a class full of kids, not knowing any of the material, and not even break a sweat.

"For Max." Justin agreed. I missed him. Not really _him_, but the feeling of not being alone. He was at the half-way mark, waiting with the other boys for us to get our team colored flag to them.

"On your mark!" The host called out, everyone in the line getting ready to run for it. "Get set!" I took a deep breath, getting a good mental picture of Max in my mind. Me and Justin need to do this, for him. "GO!"

I sprinted forward, surprised at how light the suit felt as I started my way up the wall climb. My hands flew out, grabbing on to anything that would hold me. I didn't even look down at my feet, I just watched my hands and ignored the screaming and protesting my arms were doing. I blocked everything out, the crowd, the other contestants, Justin's voice in the back of my, head.

Finally, my butt made it to the top and I swung my leg over, starting on my way down. I went slower on this side, mostly because we did _not _have anything to catch us if we fell and breaking my leg on the first challenge _might _kinda suck. I saw Mitchie out of the corner of my eye, staying close to the front with me.

I was half way down the wall when I decided I'd just jump for it. I pushed off from it, my feet hitting the ground hard, and my momentum bringing my butt down to the ground as well. I stood up, forgetting the pain and putting everything I had into running. I tried to stretch my legs as far as they would go in front of me, and push off from the ground as hard as I could when my feet touched down on the dirt.

I smiled under my helmet, I was in the lead. Ha, _suckers_. Just as I thought this, Caitlyn Gellar showed up in my line of sight. _Dayum_! That girl is _fast_. Her purple form was zooming by me.

We reached the rope swing, and I didn't even think twice about jumping out towards the rope, holding on to it as my stomach felt like it entered my throat. I let go, a moment of feeling weightless as I flew through the air washed over me before I landed on my feet on the other side of the mud pit. I ran, starting to get tired. No, not now. I have to reach Justin before I can catch my breath.

I was running on dirt, not sure when the platform left my feet, but at least there was no one close to me right now, not that I was about to risk looking back to check on that. The dirt ended and a large hole showed up in front of me, and there was a large pipe running in the middle to connect the two sides. I didn't pause, even though the pipe was turning. I felt like I was walking sideways across it, as it turned to the left under my feet. I was almost to the end when I felt it bounce a little from the weight og someone else getting on behind me. My hair was sticking to my face from all the sweating I was doing. I blew air up on my face, trying to get my hair out of my eyes.

I jumped across to the platform, rushing forward. I could see Justin, who was bouncing up and down and cheering me on, ready to run. I reached him slower than I would've liked, tired out of my mind. Handing over the flag, he took off towards some obstacle that had tire swings in it. But I didn't care at this point. I'd done my part, I got the stupid thing this far.

My legs decided to give up on my ass and soon my butt made contact with the ground. I sat there, watching as others showed up, passing their flags along. I smiled, glad Justin got a good head start. These other boys were in way better shape then he was.

I sighed, taking off my helmet and running my gloved hands through my messy, and sweat drenched hair, pulling strands off my face.

"Wow." I looked over at Mitchie smiling at me as she removed her helmet. "I didn't know you could move that fast."

"Gotta do what you gotta do." I giggled, watching as the last boy, who seemed very upset over that, got his flag. I noticed it was the pink team, and I smiled even brighter. Tess Tyler and Shane Gray. I was glad they were in last.

I stood up, checking the screen in the audience to check on Justin's status.

"Yes." I sighed, a smile on my face, watching as his green form ran up a dirt hill, grabbing on to a rope to help pull himself up the steep climb. He slid down the other side and ran across the finish line, jumping up and down as he did.

"Congrats." Mitchie smiled, hitting my shoulder.

"Thanks." I smiled at her, a giddy feeling in my chest.

"You deserve it, Russo." Caitlyn Gellar said, taking off her purple helmet and walking closer to us. "You pulled some crazy stuff."

"Nah, it was all fun." I shrugged, glad people noticed me. "Actually, no. It wasn't fun. It hurt. _A lot_."

****

We were standing up on the main platform, in the middle of the dome, hovering up in the air for the crowd to see. The host had his feet on the platform with us, but he still moved like he was floating through the air. Graceful and well practiced.

"And the winners of the challenge are..." He looked back and me and Justin, waving us forward. "The green team! Player number nine, Alex Russo, and player number ten, Justin Russo!"

The audience cheered, a chant about sibling power starting. I giggled, leaning forward to catch Justin's eye across the host. He smiled brightly back, turning to the crowd and waving, mouthing a thank you to them.

"We'll have the interview with them on tomorrow's show." The host chuckled, slapping Justin's shoulder with his wide hand. "See you later, Earth!"

****

The light was right in my face. I couldn't see the camera, only the red light that was on top of it, blinking slower than my heart was beating. The interviewer guy was sitting across from me, a camera off to the side was filming him while he asked the questions.

They had me sitting on a stool, my backdrop was this stupid purple curtain thing that had no real purpose other than to cover up the fact that we're sitting thirty feet under the dome in a the "behind the scenes" area.

"So, Alex..." The guy gave a forced smile, his tie not matching his outfit. "...how do you feel, after winning the first challenge of season?"

I glanced at the camera, feeling my hands get even more sweaty. I took a deep breath, trying to think over something smart to say.

"I'm excited?" I smiled, not really understanding what else I could be. Oh, yeah, I sure am depressed that we won. What else am I suppose to feel?

"What was going through your mind while you had the flag during the obstacle course challenge?" He asked, looking straight at me, his hands in his lap and his ankle propped up on his knee.

"It's all a blur." I replied, shrugging and trying to forget that the whole world will be watching this tomorrow. The whole world, and my parents, and a certain little brother. "But I was thinking about my family a lot."

"Do you have a close relationship to your family?" He questioned, his tone sounding interested, but his face screaming that he was bored out of his mind. I had to remind myself that he's interviewed contestants for the past five years on this show.

"Yes, but I'm closer to my brothers than to my parents." I answered, wondering what mom and dad will think.

"Do you think that close relationship with your brother Justin helped you win today?" He asked, tilting his head a little to the side.

"I don't know." I shrugged, getting more comfortable with the camera. I mean, come on, it's _me _we're talking about. Cameras _love _me. "I'm sure it helped, though."

"Who do you think put the most effort into winning, you or your brother Justin?" He asked, looking like he wanted to roll his eyes at the questions they make him ask us.

"I think we both tried our hardest." I answered, wondering what they're up to. People on this show always look stupid, or mean, and Justin warned me earlier that they might twist my words around to make me sound that way, too.

"What do you think about the pink team? Tess Tyler and Shane Gray. Why do you think they came in last?" He questioned, his eyes blinking slowly.

"Um, I guess they didn't run fast enough?" I held my shoulders in a shrug position while I answered, not really knowing _how _to answer. He looked like he wanted to smile, his eyes seeming brighter than before.

"Do you think that Shane Gray and Tess Tyler could have taken the news in a better way?" He questioned, glancing at the monitor off to the side to make sure we were running on time and keeping up with the questions.

"Oh, you mean their fight?" I giggled, smiling as I added, "That was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life."

"Speaking of reactions, do you think the purple team, Caitlyn Gellar and Nate Jonas, took coming in second place well?"

"Oh yeah, they're really nice people, and they were just fine with coming in second." I nodded, still smiling at the thought of little diva Tess and monster diva Shane shouting at each other. Especially when Shane yelled that Tess was fat and that's why they lost, and she shouted back that they lost because his hair weighed him down.

"And in third place, the blue team, Mitchie Torres and Jason Green. They were also fine with not coming in first place?"

"Yeah, they were even nicer about not coming in first, but right now it's not really about coming in first...it's really just about showing the world who you are as a contestant and what you have to offer the game." I replied, wondering where the hell that came from.

"There has been quite a lot of arguement about how this particular GSS television program is broadcasted and hosted in English, and this why the contestants that do not speak English as their first language did not place in the top three. What do you have to say about this theory?"

"Wow, um, I never really thought about that before." I raised my eyebrows and tried to come up with something to say. What happened to that burst of nice interview material I had a second ago? "I guess if you look at it that way, then I can see where the concern is at. But personally, I don't think that has anything to do with _anything_. The contestants that had to learn English, they've been speaking English for years. It's not something new that they learned just for this show."

"So you don't think that because _What Are You Playing For? _is hosted in English that contestants coming from non-English speaking countries have any disadvantages?"

"No, I do not think that any of the contestants coming from non-English speaking countries have any disadvantages." I answered as clearly as I could. Ha, let's see you spin those words around!

"Moving on..." He glanced at the monitor for the next question. "...do you agree with Aya Jai, the only player from Japan and the girl contestant of the orange team, that the challenge was not exactly fair to the female contestants? Aya's exact words were, '_The female body is not built the same way as the male body, therefore the obstacle course was not fair. The first half should have been scaled down, so that the females would have been better matched up against the males._' Do you agree with this?"

"No, I don't." I shook my head. "The course was just fine, because the girls weren't up against the boys, we were racing against other girls. But I would agree with her if it was girls against boys, or something like that."

"We ran a poll on our website, asking which contestant the people of Earth thought would win the first challenge. This poll was taken two hours before the challenge was revealed to be the obstacle course, and before we surprised the audience that you were all going to be one teams, and a little over one billion votes were cast in this poll. Coming into this competition you and your brother Justin Russo had no previous experience with GSS before, and the viewers certainly took that into consideration when they placed their votes. You and brother came in the bottom two on our online poll. You placed with five percent of the votes, while your brother placed with three percent. What are your thoughts after hearing this?"

I was laughing by the time he got around to asking me a question. "Wow, well thanks for the support guys." I smiled into the camera giving a quick thumbs up. "All I have to say...is that all of you watching can _suck it_!" I laughed, clapping my hands together and shaking my head. The interviewer looked a little surprised, but amused at the same time. I guess no one has told Earth to suck it before.

"On our website we posted a new poll, shortly after we broadcasted the first challenge live to everyone on Earth. The poll was asking the viewers if they were surprised by the results. Over _two and half _billion votes came in, and ninety-one percent of those two and half billion people down on Earth were surprised to see that you your brother won the first challenge of the season. Are you happy these results?"

"Heck yeah, I am." I smiled, the pressure of the camera completely gone now. "The Russo's are here, and we ain't going down without a fight!"

"That's our time, but next we have the exclusive interview with Alex's older brother and teammate, Justin Russo coming up after a message from our sponsors." He smiled at the camera off to the side before getting the signal that they turned it off. He stood, sighing and extending his hand towards me. "_Nice_ interview."

"Thanks, it was fun." I replied, smiling and shaking his hand. "Actually, no, it wasn't fun."

"At least it's over for you." He pointed out, turning to look at the crew members. "Can _someone_ please get me a coffee?"

****

"Nice job out there." A tall boy with spiked blond hair smiled at me as I entered the 'chill out room' where all the other contestants who weren't being interviewed were hanging out.

"It's...Liam, right?" I pointed my finger lightly at him, narrowing my eyes and trying to remember. I could at least remember he was from Canada.

"Liam George, at your service." He grinned, bowing a little and getting a laugh from that Japanese girl across the room. Aya Jai, her name was. She was sitting next to the other guy from the orange team, Barry Smith.

"How'd the interview go?" Justin asked, standing from his seat next to Mitchie Torres and Jason Green. He walked over to me and crossed his arms. "What kind of questions did they ask?"

"I dunno." I shrugged, glancing over at Mitchie. "All I could pay attention to is that death light they've got in your face the whole time."

The babysitter ran over to us, pushing Justin towards the door. "You're needed on set." She was muttering as he waved a short goodbye and disapeared.

I noticed that the Liam guy had left when Justin popped up. He was sitting by the other member of the black team, Lola Scott. They were talking to the red team, the genius Ella and the ape-looking Russian guy Ivan. The one with the facial hair and deadly grey eyes.

I walked over to Mitchie, sitting next to her and getting a smile. She looked over at Jason and gestured to me, saying, "You've met Alex, right?"

"Yeah!" He exclaimed, sitting up straighter and looking across Mitchie at me, his boyish charm making me smile. "You and your brother, are like, my _favorite_ team."

"You _do _know they're the enemy, right?" Caitlyn Gellar asked him, sitting on the couch across from us next to her teammate Nate, the guy who always looks so serious, and the yellow team...Sophie Jones, the tall, blond Australian girl, and Sander Williams.

"_So_? Just because I'm on the show, doesn't mean I can't still _act_ like I'm just a viewer." He pointed out, his words coming out with a _duh _on them. "And you guys are my favorite."

"Who's your least favorite?" Sophie Jones asked, laughing. Her accent was making me wish I lived in Australia.

Jason leaned forward, and answered, "That guy over there from the pink team. He's got, like, a serious temper issue thing going on."

"Don't worry, he's our least favorite, too." Mitchie laughed, the rest of joining her.

"But I have to admit, some of his music is pretty kicking." The Sander guy chuckled, looking over his shoulder at Shane Gray, who was talking to Pablo Lopez from the white team. Speaking of white team, the other half, Peggy, was entering the room, followed by Tess Tyler and brown team...Victoria Ortiz from Mexico and Andy Davidson from Richmond, Virginia.

"Okay, listen up, _rainbow_." Tess called out, making us all turn to look at her smirk. "You see what I did there? Rainbow? Because we're all different colors...? _Ugh_, fine."

"Get to the point." Ape-man Ivan ordered, his Russian accent making him sound as scary as he looked. The babysitter walked into the room, moving Tess out of her way so she could stand in the middle.

"You need to change into your team shirts, which are already in your dressing rooms. They're the color of your team, and have your number and name on the backs with the GSS logo on the front. Put on the black pants that go with it and meet up in here. We're going to a photoshoot so fix your make-up and hair while you change. After that you're going to dinner with the president of GSS and his wife back at GSS HQ. After that there will be interviews with magazines and newspapers. Finally, we'll get back HQ around twelve tonight, and it's straight to bed. And you've got twenty minutes before we leave!" She exclaimed, pointing to the door. "_Hurry_!"

----

AN: I'm getting pretty into this story. XD So is everyone caught up with who the contestants are? If not, I'm gonna help you out with some nice little information.

**Player Info:**

1. Caitlyn Gellar

Toronto, Canada

17 Years Old

Purple Team

2. Shane Gray

San Diego, California

18 Years Old

Pink Team

3. Tess Tyler

Seattle, Washington

15 Years Old

Pink Team

4. Nate Jonas

Dallas, Texas

16 Years Old

Purple Team

5. Peggy Warburton

London, England

17 Years Old

White Team

6. Mitchie Torres

Los Angeles, California

16 Years Old

Blue Team

7. Jason Green

Miami, Florida

19 Years Old

Blue Team

8. Ella Pador

Seattle, Washington

14 Years Old

Red Team

9. Alex Russo

New York City, New York

16 Years Old

Green Team

10. Justin Russo

New York City, New York

18 Years Old

Green Team

11. Aya Jai

Tokyo, Japan

17 Years Old

Orange Team

12. Barry Smith

Las Vegas, Nevada

17 Years Old

Orange Team

13. Victoria Ortiz

Mexico City, Mexico

15 Years Old

Brown Team

14. Pablo Lopez

Madrid, Spain

14 Years Old

White Team

15. Sander Williams

Atlanta, Georgia

16 Years Old

Yellow Team

16. Ivan Yegor

Moscow, Russia

19 Years Old

Red Team

17. Sophie Jones

Victoria, Australia

19 Years Old

Yellow Team

18. Lola Scott

Denver, Colorado

18 Years Old

Black Team

19. Liam George

Alberta, Canada

15 Years Old

Black Team

20. Andy Davidson

Richmond, Virginia

18 Years Old

Brown Team

**Current rank (who's winning):**

1. Alex and Justin - Green

2. Caitlyn and Nate - Purple

3. Mitchie and Jason - Blue

4. Lola and Liam - Black

5. Peggy and Pablo - White

6. Sander and Sophie - Yellow

7. Ella and Ivan - Red

8. Victoria and Andy - Brown

9. Aya and Barry - Orange

10. Shane and Tess - Pink

**Ages:**

14 - Ella, Pablo

15 - Tess, Victoria, Liam

16 - Nate, Mitchie, Alex, Sander

17 - Caitlyn, Peggy, Aya, Barry

18 - Shane, Justin, Lola, Andy

19 - Jason, Sophie, Ivan

And maybe you noticed, or maybe you didn't, but it's going to be a joke at some point in the future about how Mitchie is player number 6 and Alex is player number 9. Got it? 69? I crack myself up sometimes. XD Hope this helped, it took me forever to put together!


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Challenge number two!!

----

"Suuuuuup?" I sighed, sitting next to Mitchie in the chill out room. We all already had on our suits, so when you walk in the room it feels like you just walked into a rainbow.

"Ready for number two?" She asked, smiling as Jason started laughing. Justin sat down next to me on the couch, looking at Jason curiously.

"What's so funny?" He questioned, watching Jason bend over in his blue suit with an amused smile.

"She said...she said _number two_." He laughed, finally getting some control and sitting up straight again, wiping away at invisible tears with his gloved hands. "Like...like, you know, like going to the bathroom...number two?"

"So what kind of _joyness _is this one gonna be?" I asked, not really caring who answered, but wanting to hear Mitchie's voice.

"We did a physical challenge the day before yesterday, so today it'll be a mental challenge." Mitchie explained, leaning back against the couch and looking down at her helmet.

"And since it's Wednesday, we won't be doing anything tomorrow, and Friday the bottom two teams will go head to head for those last few points, and the bottom team gets kicked off. Then on Saturday they show us back at HQ just stuck in the same house together." Justin continued before our babysitter walked in and clapped her hands.

"Come on, let's go. It's party time."

****

"Helmets on." Our babysitter ordered as we stood on the main platform in the dome, hovering high up in the air in front of the live audience. "Cameras will be rolling in five seconds, stand straight, don't move, look like you're _not_ nervous."

I stood up as straight as I could, slipping my heltmet out from under my arm and on to my head, making sure it was on tight.

"Welcome to challenge two of _What Are You Playing For?_." The host's voice boomed through the dome as he rode his jetpack over to us, a couple of cameras hovering around him. "For this challenge, the contestants will have to not only put their physical strength to the test, but they must also use their brains."

He turned and gestured for us to follow him as he flew towards some ropes. Our colors were marked on the ends of the ropes, and we all walked over to our places.

"Tug of war!" He announced, the audience cheering while myself and the other contestants groaned. I looked in front me, seeing the brown team, model-looking Victoria from Mexico and that Andy guy who never puts down his drum sticks.

I picked up the rope, it feeling heavy in my hands. Justin was behind me, also picking up the rope. "I think we can at least take these two." He shrugged. "They're eighth place, not that our ranks mean anything right now, though."

"The contestants will be making sure that their side of the rope does not cross the middle line, because if it does, they're out! But that's not it..." The host twirled in the air and pointed to the screens that were up in the audience. "They'll be answering these questions as well, getting points for each one they get right. But to answer a question, they must reach the red button behind them and hit it with their foot or hand, and all while still trying not to let the other team pull them across the line!"

"Okay, I'm lost." I muttered, sighing and trying to get in the zone.

"Here, let me get in front." He stepped in front of me, and grabbed on to the rope there. "You get in back and hit the button when we know the answer to a question, and I'll make sure they don't pull us too far."

"With _what_ muscles?" I laughed, looking at the red button. How hard could it be? Well, I guess pretty hard since they're trying to get their own button over there. _Damn_ them. Damn them hard.

"Just get ready." He replied, getting in a stance to try and hold the rope better. "For Max."

"For Max." I agreed, cracking my knuckles and looking across the rope at model face and drummer boy. They looked like they were fighting over who should be in front and who should be in the back.

"Contestants, on your mark!" The host exclaimed, making everyone forget their problems and just pick a spot. I took a deep breath, gald I had on gloves. "Get set!" I thought about Max, and his laugh, and his smile. I needed to hold on to this stupid rope so that I can hear and see those when I get home. "Tug!"

I pulled on the rope, my feet sliding forward. I tried to back up, my body leaning backwards and my arms already screaming in pain.

"Your first question is..." I gritted my teeth and pulled, Justin's body leaning just as far back in front of me as mine was. "...in ancient Egypt, people did _what _as a mourning symbol when their cats died?"

"Hit the button!" Justin exclaimed, stomping his feet on the platform and jerking back as hard as he could. I turned my head, not even remembering what the question was, and reached my foot out. I barely hit the button before we were jerked forward. I planted my feet firmly on the ground and put all my weight into pulling the rope backwards.

"Green team! Your answer?" The host, flew over us, looking down at Justin and me.

"They shaved their eyebrows as a mourning symbol!" Justin grunted, his lip chip bringing his words out of the speakers for the whole dome to here.

"That is correct! Five points for the green team." The host flew off to the side again.

"How _the hell_ did you know that?" I asked, my feet slipping on the platform, making a squeaky noise.

"No talking, just pulling. One, two, _three_!" He exclaimed, us both jerking back on the rope and bringing the brown team forward a few feet.

"Question number two..." The host announced. "...in 200 BC, which Greek city was at the height of it's power?"

I turned my head, looking for the button, but as soon as we started to get a little closer, the host shouted, "Red team! Your answer?"

Ella's voice rang through the dome, "The Greek city of Sparta!"

"That is correct! Five points for the red team." The host zoomed over us again, off to the edge and away from all the grunting and battle cries.

"Question number three..." The host exclaimed. "...in 1896, the shortest war lasted for a total of thirty-eight minutes. Who was it between?"

"The button, get the freakin button!" Justin exclaimed, his feet sliding as he tried to pull us backwards. We went no where as the host shouted out who had hit the button.

"Red team! Your answer?" The host zoomed back over to them as Ella shouted the answer again.

"The war was between Britian and Zanzibar!" I cursed the ape-man Ivan for his strength. Ella didn't even sound tired! She probably wasn't even holding on to the rope at all. Stupid ape-man.

"That is correct! Five more points for the red team!" He chuckled as myself and Justin got pulled almost to the middle line, using everything we had to bring ourselves back a foot or two.

"Question number four..." The host announced. "...which famous pop singer from the early 2000s was the first to win over fifty poptastical awards?"

"Justin, I've got this one!" I shouted, looking for the button as we jerked on the rope as hard as we could. I stuck my foot out, missing the button when we got pulled back away from it.

"Pink team! Your answer?" The host flew over to them.

"Hannah Montana!" Tess' voice called out, the audience cheering for them.

"That is correct! Five points for the pink team!" The host chuckled, flying over us again. "Question number five...who discovered the cure for toe cancer?"

"Hurry, Alex!" Justin grunted, pulling hard, but being forced forward by the brown team. I closed my eyes when someone else hit the button.

"Black team! Your answer?"

"Doctor Sarah Oaken!" Blond boy Liam shouted.

By the time we got all the way to question number ten, my arms felt like noodles and my legs were cramping so bad that giving up was sounding pretty nice. But I kept that picture of Max in my mind. I can't give up. Giving up would mean giving up Max's life.

"Red team! Your answer?" The host zoomed to the other side of the platform one last time.

"Pi times the square root of six divided by the sum of line A and line B, all over pi times eight." Ella shouted, a giggle in her voice.

"That is correct! Five more points for the red team! And that ends challenge number two! Contestants, you may stop!"

I dropped the rope and sighed, pulling off my helmet and tossing it on the ground, along with my butt. I sat and tried to catch my breath. My arms felt like they were on fire and my feet were yelling at me, calling me the freakin devil.

"And the winners are..." The host exclaimed, getting everyone's attention as I removed my sweaty hair from my face. "...Ella Pador and Ivan Yegor, the red team!"

Justin looked down at me, taking off his helmet and sighing. "Well, that sucked."

****

I looked up at the official scoreboard. The red team had passed us with that last challenge.

**1. **Ella and Ivan - Red

**2. **Alex and Justin - Green

**3. **Caitlyn and Nate - Purple

**4.** Lola and Liam - Black

**5. **Shane and Tess - Pink

**6.** Mitchie and Jason - Blue

**7. **Sander and Sopie - Yellow

**8. **Peggy and Pablo - White

**9. **Victoria and Andy - Brown

**10. **Aya and Barry - Orange

"Are you in as much pain as I am?" Mitchie asked, walking by and stopping next to me. I turned to look at her, smiling and nodding.

"I don't think my arms will ever work the same way again." I laughed, as she turned and continued her way down the hall. I caught up to her, walking by her side as we entered the cafeteria of the GSS HQ building.

"At least you guys got a question right." She giggled, grabbing a tray and going down the buffet table. I copied her, staying close to her side so we could talk. "Me and Jason didn't get to that little button fast enough, but we only knew like two of the questions anyways."

"I knew _one_." I laughed with her, grabbing a roll and shrugging. "Justin was like a freakin computer or something, he knew all of them."

"I feel kinda bad for the orange team." She whispered as little asian girl Aya and Barry walked by. "They're in dead last."

"I'm more worried about the red team than the orange team. They answered like, five of the ten questions." I pointed out.

"Well, it's _was _the perfect game for them. With Ivan's muscles and Ella's brain, it would've been stupid to think they wouldn't win." She shrugged.

"Right now, I just want to take a long nap." I sighed, us both laughing as we walked over to a table to eat.

----

AN: In the next chapter, Mitchie and Alex will be getting closer, don't worry!


End file.
